Tuesday, December 18, 2007

I love to knit with double points, which means that I have a number of sets in a range of sizes. With such a large collection, it soon became apparent that I needed a practical way of storing and organizing all of them. Being a thrifty knitter, I set out to knit my own double point case and this pattern is the result of that effort.

Case In Point is a knitted version of a rolled double point case, with seven pockets in varying sizes. It can comfortably store 10 sets of dpns; I usually have a few sets of socks needles and other dpns up to size 11 in mine. While this version is knitted out of Schoeller + Stahl Ole, any sport weight yarn in a sturdy wool or cotton will suffice.

ABBREVIATIONSLK2tog: Lift corresponding stitch from “case body”, place on left needle. Knit together with 1 “pocket” stitch.LEK2tog: Lift stitch from “case body” inner panel edge (next to seed stitch border), place on left needle. Knit together with 1 “pocket” stitch.

Friday, December 14, 2007

I have been thinking a lot lately about this blog and what content I want to present here. The internet is full of wonderful knitting blogs and I feel that my contributions to this community have been mediocre thus far. 'She Knits It' simply lacks focus as a knitting blog and, despite being an updated version of my first knitting blog, it never really fit.

These concerns were prompted by my desire to share some of my patterns with other knitters. They are not new ideas, but have gained momentum in the recent week as I am starting to jot down notes for my first pattern. I was in the midst of this writing when a Ravelry user asked if I was going to write up something for a previous, unrelated project. I was completely flattered that someone expressed interest in the things that I make and decided right then to take steps toward building a better blog and putting out my own patterns. So thank you ForestStryfe for being my spark.

Monday, December 03, 2007

So the DH's first sweater is finished and I HATE it! The chest is not wide enough, which consequently makes the body to short when it stretches to fit. I also do not like the saddle shoulder look on him. Needless to say, I haven't touched it since finishing the neckline over Thanksgiving. When I have the heart, I will rip out the yoke, adjust the body, and make a raglan out of it. Then we will both be happy to show it in public.

So while ignoring the sweater, I have been working on a few smaller projects. I finished the Jaywalkers over the weekend and I think that they turned out nicely, thank you very much. I finally got them onto some KP Options and had no more drama with my DPNs. Whew! Also, I have to note that I don't understand the obsession over Socks That Rock. My Jaywalkers were done in the Fred Flintstone colorway, and while the yarn was quite nice to work with, it didn't live up to the hype. Still, a nice FO.

Another project that I have been working on is the Twist scarf from "Knitting New Scarves" by Lynne Barr. This book is amazing, with some intriguing architecture made into scarves; I want to knit half of the projects just to see how the 3D effect is acheived. For the first try, I settled on Twist, which turned out to be an ingeniously constructed pattern. It was also the perfect project to use up the last half of my handspun (original seen in the Two-Tone Shrug). I love how everything is progressing!

I am also working on a pair of Thudjas at the moment because I seem to have a strong case of Startitis. I blame Ravelry. Hopefully this will become a full-blown case of Finishitis before Christmas rolls around. One can only hope...

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Did you know I am doing NaKniSweMo? You might have seen the button on the right side of the page, but unless you are on Ravelry, you haven't seen my project yet! Well here it is:

Great, so what is it? For my sweater challenge, I have decided to knit my first Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, the Classic 'Brooks' Sweater. And because I recently got married, this sweater is for my new husband--his first handknit sweater. I'm using Knitpicks Swish, which is a superwash Merino (the DH has to prove that he's not going to throw the sweater in the washer before he gets non-superwash). The yarn is fabulous to work with and I'm really liking how the sweater is shaping up! I hope the DH likes it too!

Besides the sweater, I have a few smaller projects that I am working on, mainly because I don't have the attention span to work on a sweater full-time. One side project is a pair of Jaywalkers, which have been traveling everywhere with me (including the volleyball game pictured below). I would really like to get them done, so I can move onto some holiday knitting. I'm on the foot of the second sock, so there is not much more to do!

I also knit up a fun little whimsy last week--a pear cozy. There is an apple cozy pattern floating around the internets and, as I only had pears, I adapted it to fit. The cozy has already made several appearances and gotten a few laughs and smiles. I think that it is super cute (and quick useful to protect my pears from bruising)!

I'm really looking forward to some time off at Thanksgiving, which will certainly be used for knitting. With the extra time, I will hopefully be able to finish this sweater in time!

Sunday, October 07, 2007

What an adventure! Between all of the sight-seeing, eating, and sleeping I did on my honeymoon, I had surprisingly little time to knit my Jaywalkers. Of course, for most of the trip, I did not have anything to knit with! Let's just say that I'm lucky to have returned from Europe with half of a sock.

I was doing really well at the beginning; I completed most of the cuff during the bus ride to Chicago O'Hare and even managed to start the heel before falling asleep on our overnight plane to London. But then, Heathrow happened. Apparently, airport security in Europe is more strict, especially about knitting needles. And Knitpicks Options DPNs don't exactly look harmless. So there went TWO sets of Options and all my stitches were left to wander free in my bag.

Progress on the specimen before leaving O'Hare

Luckily, I spotted 2 yarn shops in Siena, and the proprietress of one (who was definitely smoking inside her shop) spoke enough English to sell me size 2.5mm needles. Of course, they were straight needles. Great. Still, I was able to pick up all of my stitches and save my knitting. I even managed to turn the heal on our train ride from Siena.

The specimen on one straight needle

But trying to work in the round on straights, after turning the heel, proved to be my downfall. I think that I finished 3 rounds, and I will be lucky if I haven't connected the two sides. Sigh. And when my straights bend and poked a hole in my travel bag, I called it quits. So I packed the knitting in my checked luggage, and am now on the hunt for some new DPNs now that I am stateside again.

But then again, I have a few other things that I can work (that I actually have needles for) now that I am home.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Puffy has been put on hold. The Anemois must wait. The Snickets are taking a Rip van Winkle. It is time for... vacation knitting!

Sunday is the big day, the day I get married. We leave for Italy on Tuesday evening for a quiet week with just the three of us: me, my new hubbie, and some soon-to-be Jaywalkers. I cannot wait for the sights, the smells, and the socks. Squee, definite squee.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The Puff-Sleeved Cardigan is proceeding much more smoothly since the last post. I ripped out 6" to above the sleeve divide and started reknitting in 2 sizes down (was the 40", now the 36"). With my gauge, the 36" is the perfect size for the snug fit I want. At the time of this post, I only have 6 more rows left to knit for the body and then I can move onto the sleeves and button band. Gosh, do I love knitting on road trips!

Because of the change in pattern size and the size of my torso, I have also made some mods to the pattern. I added one more set of decreases during the waist shaping to eliminate the 8 extra stitches between the 40" and 36" sizes. After the waist shaping, I added a few more rows of stockinette to make sure that the ridge motif hits my natural waist. I should have added another 2 rows of stockinette after the ridges, because the YO's in the peplum pattern look odd right after the ridges. I don't feel like ripping out 20 more rows, so I think I can live with this.

Things are going well, and I am really hoping to finish knitting and seaming this sweater before the wedding!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

I'm going on a road trip this weekend to Evansville, Indiana, which is a tiny 8 hour drive from Madison, Wisconsin. Per usual, I plan on packing a simple project that I can work on in the car, in this case the Puffy Cardigan. However, I need to make a quick stop on the way to Evansville; I need to visit the frog pond.

I decided to rip out the sweater to above the sleeve division and reknit two sizes smaller. Part of my miscalculation can be blamed on a small deviation in gauge (so maybe swatching in the car is not the best idea), while the other half is due to picking the 40" bust over the 38" bust. I'm really a 39", but I think I should have rounded down for a more fitted garment. We'll see how knitting the 36" size goes with my current gauge.

And of course, while I was ignoring my Puffy this week, I cast on those beautiful Anemoi Mittens. I am using Knit Picks Palette in two shades of blue on size 2 DPNs, which should give me the large size. Unfortunately, the large is turning out to be a bit too big, and I think that my first mitten will also be making the road trip to the frog pond. What I really need is size 1.5 DPNs, but I am going to reknit with the size 1's that are in my stash.

This is me, meditating on patience and the fine art of accurately swatching.

Monday, August 20, 2007

I'm going to come right out and say it: there has been very little knitting at my house this week and there will be very little knitting discussed in the following post. But I still have a few things up my knitted sleeves to make all of you out there jealous.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I moved in with the fiance this week and am now living in a 4 room apartment on the first floor of a Victorian house built in 1895. It is such a beautiful space with tall ceilings and wood floors; I think I'd never want to leave! The apartment itself consists of the obvious rooms: the kitchen, the bedroom + bath, the living room. And one more room which has yet to be given an official name. I like to call it 'The Craft Room':

That's right! My soon-to-be DH has given me (part of) a room just for my crafting! The left-most desk will be for the computer, with the right side of the room for my overflowing pile of supplies. I have a bunch of boxes and bags piled up in the space right now and I can't wait to get unpacked and settled in! I promise there will more pictures when all of the boxes find a home.

I should sneak some actual knitting news in at the end here and tell you about the progress of my cardigan. I finished the waist-shaping this evening and tried it on for the first time since dividing the sleeves to find that it is too big! I was trying to play it safe by going up a size, but now I know I will not be happy until I frog 3" and start knitting that smaller size from the sleeve divide. I've really liked this project so far and I want to be sure that I will like wearing it, too. I'm just glad I tried it on before it was mostly finished!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Fiance: Are you ready to go out to dinner?Me: Sure, let me just finish knitting this row.

20 minutes later

Fiance: What is taking so long, aren't you done yet?Me: Almost, I only have 150 stitches left to go. Give me another 10 minutes, okay?Fiance: 10 minutes?! You promised we'd go when you finished your row.Me: I know! I'm not done yet.

Needless to say, I'm back at the Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan. It was a little tedious for while when I could do about 4 rows in the time it took me to watch a movie. But then I divided the sleeves, and it has been going much more quickly.

In the meantime, it has been traveling with me everywhere (the movies, ultimate frisbee games, road trips). While this is conducive to adding inches to the project, it leads to things like the Starbucks Coffee Incident, which, besides making me want to cry, turned out to be relatively fixable. I think.

Of course, since I'm working full-speed on the cardigan again, I should mention that the Endpapers are finished! I can't wait for the Fall to wear them, though I know that cold weather will come soon enough to Wisconsin. I could not be happier with how these turned out; they are one of my favorite projects to-date.

Pictures will go up soon. I'm in the middle of moving to a new apartment right now, so I have a few other things to worry about before I get to the blog pics. Thanks for your patience!

Sunday, August 05, 2007

I am the Michael Jackson of knitting. I finished my first Endpaper Mitt last weekend and have been wearing it around in the anticipation of finishing the other. Why, in the height of summer, do I need to be wearing mitts? Just one mitt? Yet it gives me a zealous glee to sit here and type a la MJ. Except that my glove is pink.

Needless to say, the mitts are coming along fabulously. I am surprised at how little yarn they require; I will have enough leftover to make a whole extra pair. Or maybe those Anemoi Mittens? [Insert more zealous glee here]

One thing that is definitely not provoking glee is the packing of the stash. I move in with the fiance in 10 days, and I can't bear to box up my yarn. This whole moving this is going to put a serious damper on my knitting time. But, on the other hand, the extra cuddle time will surely make up for it. Where did I put that box, again?

Friday, July 27, 2007

I cataloged a large number of my previous projects on Ravelry over the last few weeks and, when I looked at everything next to each other, I realized how many small and (relatively) simple projects I have made. So I started taking advantage of Ravelry's amazing searches to see what others are knitting. And boy am I amazed! To see these beautiful FOs reminds me of all of the knitting techniques I have yet to learn. For example, in the five years that I have been knitting, I have never done fair isle or made a sweater that I really like to wear.

And it's time to change that.

First, I'm going to try to tackle the sweater challenge with the Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan from Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits. I happened to already have the exact yarn called for in the pattern (Knit Picks Merino Style), so I cast on after finishing the Two-Toned Ribbed Shrug. I am now really close to dividing for the sleeves, and so far I like how things are going. The yarn is fabulous to knit with, and I really love the green color. The only thing I am worried about is how the finished sleeves will look; will they be puffy enough? The model in the book looks great, but some FO pictures have been a little 'flat'. We'll see...

To tackle the color work challenge, I am making the Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang. I found this pattern via Ravelry after putting Eunny's Anemoi Mittens on my to-knit list. The Endpapers seemed like an easier place to start my fair isle, though I plan on getting to those mittens soon. I'm currently on my third pattern repeat, and I already love these! Why has it taken me so long to get around to fair isle? Once I taught my left hand to knit, it has been a breeze. The yarn for this project, Knit Picks Pallette, is great for fair isle, though nothing particularly interesting on its own. As a bonus, this project is also from stash, which I guess means I should have a third challenge: knit more from stash.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

I was 'Squee!'-ing with delight this weekend at my invitation to join the new knitting site, Ravelry. After being on the waiting list for some time, and hearing all of the rave reviews from Brenda Dayne of Cast-On, I was like a kid at Christmas as I poured through Ravelry's pages. As of Sunday night, I have cataloged 8 projects, added 3 books, and have found a few new designs to add to my queue. I can see myself spending many future hours cataloging yarn, needles, and past projects, because I think that this site is going to be stellar! Squee!

Oh, and I managed to harangue the fiance to take some pictures of my finished shrug:

The baby surprise jacket has been finished and passed on to the mom-to-be. Mom has already 'tried it on' the baby and it turned out to be a little big. Next time I should probably swatch, but I figure gauge doesn't matter as the kid will always grow into it!

The lack of swatching also led me to run out of yellow cotton yarn halfway through. So the result wasn't exactly what I planned, but sometimes you need to let the knitting dictate and enjoy the beautiful results! Overall, I am very happy with the jacket and hopefully it will get worn and loved.

Now that the BSJ is done, I can finish up the shrug and post pictures here soon!

Monday, June 18, 2007

So the shrug is off the needles and all that remains it to tuck all of the ends into the fabric. Oh, and fix that tiny little mistake I made while knitting on an evening car ride:

So maybe there is not enough light on the highway to see that you've dropped a stitch. Oops. I of course caught my mistake after casting off the sleeve, so I am going to have to do some creative darning rather than unbinding and forcing the stitch back into the fold. I'm rolling my eyes at this one.

I might have to put the shrug on the back-burner while I work on my first Baby Surprise Jacket. I started it on a camping trip this weekend and I have two weeks to finish it before my friend has her baby shower. I trust Mrs. Zimmermann completely, but I have no idea how this thing is going to turn into a baby jacket. In the meantime, I am following the pattern to a T.

Once the BSJ is done, I have this strange urge to work on a large scale project. I must be hankering for a cardigan because I seem to be bookmarking a lotof cardiganpatterns these days. I am also digging the Feminine Puffed Sleeved Cardigan from Fitted Knits, which I already have yarn for, so that one might win out in the end. Though have you seen the very cool (non-cardigan) design of Cochella in the summer issue Knitty? Genius! As always, so many patterns, so little time.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Since starting to spin, I have been trying to find projects that require only 4 or 8 oz of wool. Not enough to make a sweater, but nice enough yarn that I want to do something interesting with it. I picked up a copy of Stephanie Japel's new book, Fitted Knits, the other day and immediately fell in love with her designs. I was all ready to cast on the Feminine Puffed-Sleeved Cardigan when I remembered my handspun. Instead, I started the Two-Toned Ribbed Shrug from the same book:

I have about 8 oz of this handspun and the body of the shrug has used about 6 oz. I ran out to my LYS on Sunday to find the perfect shade of Cascade 220 for the ribbed border and am loving how everything is coming together!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Things have been moving slowly here in craft-land. I'm all caught up in the end-of-the-semester rush and have been enjoying a few too many novels to have lots of knitting time. I did, however, find time to finish and start a few projects:

The Ripple Afghan is finished. Actually, it's more of a lap-ghan due to the fact that I ran out of yarn. It is still quite useful and I really enjoyed falling into the rhythm of crochet. I have some pregnant friends who might be getting rippled baby blankets this summer.

The Greensleeves Wrap from Wrap Style has been frogged. I really liked the design on this, but I don't know if I will wear it as much as a regular sweater made out of the same yarn. Plus, reading a number of EZ books has me inspired to try an EPS sweater.

I did have time to start a new project, some Snicket-inspired Socks. I am using the main cable motif from the pattern, and working them toe-up instead of cuff-down. For yarn, I am using hand-spun Merino, in the Mardi Gras colorway from Lisa Souza. My thickness is still a little uneven, but the socks are knitting up nicely.

Eventually, I hope to finish up my T-Shirt quilt, though that is bound to take a lot of time this summer. And my mind is already racing will all sorts of great summer knitting projects!

Sunday, April 22, 2007

First, I must show off the wool mentioned in the last post. It is still sitting in the corner waiting to be picked through, then I should be able to whisk it off to a local mill for spinning and carding.

Raw wool, in all of its glory

The wool is not the only thing that has been neglected this week, in between long hours at work and a really good novel. My ripple blanket has made some significant progress since last pictured here, but has stalled in the last week as I have come to the end of my spare yarn. I think that I have enough oddballs left to make it into a square, so maybe its destiny is to be a baby blanket?

Currently measuring 3.3'x2.5'

The ripples are not only hypnotic to the eye, but very soothing to crochet

If you like what you see above, click on the Ripple Along link in the sidebar to see even more beautiful afghans made by crocheters more talented than myself. They are very inspiring!

Monday, April 16, 2007

So, I attend school with this really nice guy from northern Wisconsin. About the time he decided to attend graduate school, his parents decided that they needed to find a way to combat an empty nest. So they got a sheep; mind you, they are not farmers. Soon one sheep become two, and so on and so forth until they arrived at the current fifteen.

Well, somehow word got around that I knit and spin, and my friend conveyed to me his parent's new found love for sheep. It must have been the gleam in my eyes that sparked the idea that his parents needed to donate wool. That idea came to fruition this week when I received two bags of freshly-shorn wool.

If it weren't totally smelly and dirty, I would totally stick my face in it. Ah wool! Anyway, I need to find time to pick through it before sending it to a local mill to be cleaned and carded. And then I will stick my face in it.

Monday, March 26, 2007

The Golden ClutchHave had lots of positive comments about this clutch. It is a wonder that it took me so long to sew a lining and zipper in, but the finishing touches are worth it.

PC BagA handsewn bag to ferry my laptop to and from work. Much less bulky that my laptop case and super cute to boot! Made from quilted fabric and twill tape, with 3 snap closures.

The Wheel In Motion SkeinAfter 4 months lying dormant, my spinning wheel is up and running. In just four nights of spinning and one of plying, I have my very first wheel-spun skein. Describing my wheel in one word: Fabulous!!!

STARTED:

Ripple AfghanWith no knitting ideas floating around my head at the moment, I thought that I would jump on the crochet Ripple bandwagon. Plus, it gives me something to do with my huge pile of scrap yarn.

Monday, March 19, 2007

After making 6"x6" squares for 4 months, the DG afghan is finally finished! And just in time to be auctioned off this weekend.

My friend Jane and I starting sewing the squares up on Friday evening to ready the quilt for its debut on Saturday. Little did we know that this was going to be an 8 hour task! Three movies and a couple of PB&Js later, we had a quilt! I am just glad that the it is done and I can start working on more interesting projects.

Jane sews squares togetherThe finished quiltJane's beautiful lace borderI also had some time this weekend to finish some old projects and start an exciting new one, though pictures and stories will have to wait until the next post. SPOILER: No more drop-spindling, I need to break in the wheel!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

While the oven was my medium of choice for my last post, I've switched my attention to the sewing machine this week. My sewing machine was inherented from my Mother, an old Singer machine that she recieved as a college graduation gift and subsequently passed onto me during my college years. It is still in good working order and was quite handy in fixing all of the holes that had developed in my clothes since I last got it out.

In addition to mending a few items, I performed a little surgery on a T-shirt I won at the bar the other week. As exciting as it is to get free stuff, the XL nature of free T-shirts usually has me passing them to the fiance rather than swimming in them myself.

The free XL Jack Daniel's shirt I won at the barHowever, I saw a link on the Craftzine blog to a tutorial on how to make T-shirt pants, a perfect use for my free bar shirt. I must say that these pants are SUPER comfortable! I would only mention that it probably best to follow directions for the waist, as I am not 100% happy with the two versions I tried.

The resulting pants are super cute and comfortable!In the knitting world, I finished my second Monkey sock!!! I'm now in a race to finish this DG afghan by Saturday, when it will be auctioned off. I need to do a 12"x12" section and a few more 3"x6" sections before it can all be sewn together. It should be doable.

And my final creation of the week was made last night in the kitchen--a batch of Maple-Walnut cupcakes from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. My roommate called them 'muffcakes' as the walnuts make them very muffiny, but they are still delicious. The only thing I did not like about them was the really buttery taste of the icing; I don't think that both sticks were really necessary.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

It's been a busy month. Of course, as mentioned in my last post, I am doing lots of wedding planning right now, but I also just completed a major hurdle on the way to getting my doctorate: the Thesis Background Oral. It's basically a thesis proposal presentation, followed by an hour of questioning by my committee of three professors. It's a pretty big deal, as you need to pass to stay in school.

I am discussing this here because so much of the last month of my life has been taken up by reading science articles and thinking about experiments. No real time for knitting or stress relief via some craft project. And as the date of the exam approached, I really found myself yearning to be creative. My creative side is half of me and needs to be stimulated in addition to my scientific half. It is like ying and yang--I need both.

Of the small amount of creation that I have been doing over the last several weeks, most has centered around baking for some strange reason. I have always liked to bake and truly enjoy the fruits of my labor when I am stressed and craving sweets. I started with these fabulous muffins and moved onto red velvet cupcakes. I am starting to understand the current obsession with cupcakes and plan to keep my friends fat and happy with them in the future.

The last lonely cupcake, soon to meet its fateAlso, while perusing for more cupcake recipes, I found an easy way to make caramel using a can of sweetened condensed milk. I had seen this the other day at The AntiCraft, but didn't believe it until I heard it from two seperate sources. I gave it a try the other day and am working to find a recipe that calls for caramel, so I can open the can. Any ideas?

What an easy way to make caramel!Now we come to the saddest part of this post where I show all of the knitting I have finished over the last 6 weeks:

Yes, just the one sock. The picture was not taken at a great angle, but it is a really nice looking Monkey Sock. I have spent the day working on its partner, now that I actually have free time. It is so nice to be knitting again.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

I've been a bad knitting blogger. The best I can say for myself is that no knitting has occurred over the past few weeks to blog about. I've been a little distracted because of this:

I'm learning that there just isn't enough time to go to work, plan a wedding, AND work on that half-finished pair of socks. I guess this rules out an intricate lace-weight wedding shawl getting done in time...

Thursday, January 04, 2007

I finished Andy's hat and the scarf for my Gma (the last minute knitting from the previous post) in time for Christmas, making both me and them happy. I haven't managed to snap a photo of Andy wearing the hat, but here is one of my Gma keeping warm in Gettysburg with her bright red scarf.

Apparently, more members of my family have caught on about my knitting ... habit ... and gave me fiber-related gifts for Christmas. My cousins gave me Kool Aid and my Gma bought me undyed yarn to use it on. Yay! My sisters got me a knitting bag (which may look like a normal bag to you non-knitters) and a neat plastic tote for small projects.

And that is also my current work in progress shown there. My friend, Jane, and I had this crazy idea that we could knit an afghan by the beginning of March. This wouldn't be too bad, except that we are both grad students. So far, I am eleven 6"x6" squares into the project and forsee lots more blue squares in my future.